Ribera was born in Xàtiva, near Valencia, Spain, the first child of Simón Ribera and his first wife Margarita Cucó, and baptized on February 17, 1591. His father was a shoemaker or cobbler, perhaps on a larger scale. His guardians planned a scientific or scholarly career for him, but he rejected these considerations and is said to have apprenticed with the Spanish painter Francisco Ribalta in Valencia, although there is no evidence of this connection. Longing to become involved with the arts and crafts in Italy, he came to Rome via Parma, where in 1611 he painted the now lost painting St. Martin and the Tramp for the church of San Prospero. According to one source, a cardinal became aware of him while he was painting the frescoes on the exterior façade of a Roman royal residence and took him in. Roman craftsmen gave him the nickname "Lo Spagnoletto". His early fashion was influenced by the reflections of Spanish and Venetian experts, as well as Caravaggio and Correggio. His subjects were famously grim, depicting human pitilessness and savagery with startling naturalism. In the early 1630s, his fashion changed from austere tenebrism to more diffuse lighting, as seen in The Clubfoot of 1642. Salvator Rosa and Luca Giordano were his best known followers, who may have been his students; others included Giovanni Do, the Flemish painter Hendrick de Somer (known in Italy as "Enrico Fiammingo"), Michelangelo Fracanzani, and Aniello Falcone, who was the first important painter of battle scenes.

Ribera was born in Xàtiva, near Valencia, Spain, the first child of Simón Ribera and his first wife Margarita Cucó, and baptized on February 17, 1591. His father was a shoemaker or cobbler, perhaps on a larger scale. His guardians planned a scientific or scholarly career for him, but he rejected these considerations and is said to have apprenticed with the Spanish painter Francisco Ribalta in Valencia, although there is no evidence of this connection. Longing to become involved with the arts and crafts in Italy, he came to Rome via Parma, where in 1611 he painted the now lost painting St. Martin and the Tramp for the church of San Prospero. According to one source, a cardinal became aware of him while he was painting the frescoes on the exterior façade of a Roman royal residence and took him in. Roman craftsmen gave him the nickname "Lo Spagnoletto". His early fashion was influenced by the reflections of Spanish and Venetian experts, as well as Caravaggio and Correggio. His subjects were famously grim, depicting human pitilessness and savagery with startling naturalism. In the early 1630s, his fashion changed from austere tenebrism to more diffuse lighting, as seen in The Clubfoot of 1642.Salvator Rosa and Luca Giordano were his best known followers, who may have been his students; others included Giovanni Do, the Flemish painter Hendrick de Somer (known in Italy as "Enrico Fiammingo"), Michelangelo Fracanzani, and Aniello Falcone, who was the first important painter of battle scenes.